Chess Olympiad Day 4 Highlights: Uzbekistan stuns USA; Magnus wins; India deals in draws

Welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage of the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Mahabalipuram. Track the Indians in action and all other major results here.

8:19pm: Tania Sachdev finally won her fourth-board game against Zsoka Gaal, much to the relief of her India teammates. Because of her victory, India defeated Hungary 2.5-1.5 in the women’s event. Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika and R. Vaishali had all drawn their games.

The day’s biggest news is that top seed and the firm favourite in the open section, United States, was held 2-2 by Uzbekistan.

7:27pm: The young India 2 team scored another fine victory, this time over Italy (3-1), thanks to wins from D. Gukesh and Nihal Sarin, against Daniele Vocaturo and Luca Moroni Jr., respectively

7:23pm: In the open section, India’s match with Italy ended 2-2, with S.L. Narayanan’s game, with Maxime Lagarde also finishing in a draw.

7:11pm: The India 3 in the open section too suffered a loss --1.5-2.5 to Spain. Abhijeet Gupta’s defeat to Anton Guijar proved costly. Surya Shekhar Ganguly, S.P. Sethuraman and Murali Karthikeyan drew their games.

In the women’s event, India 2 defeated Estonia 2.5-1.5, riding on Vantika Agrawal’s win on the top board against Mai Narva. Padmini Rout, Soumya Swaminathan and Divya Deshmukh drew their games.

7:02pm: In the women’s section, India 3 was humbled by a strong Georgia side. P.V. Nandhidhaa provided the lone win for the host which lost the match 1-3. The Tamil Nadu player defeated Nino Batsiashvili. Eesha Karavade, M. Varshini Sahithi and Pratyusha Bodda all lost their games.

6:51pm: D. Gukesh made good use of dubious knight manoeuvre by Daniele Vocaturo on the 23rd move to convert his advantage into a victory, another 11 moves later, on the top board between India 2and Italy.

6:41pm: World champion Magnus Carlsen bounced back after his draw on Sunday with a 30-move victory against Dambasuren Batsuren in the match between Norway and Mongolia.

6:30pm: Pentala Harikrishna and Jules Moussard reached a rook-pawn ending on the top board in the India-France match and decided to share the point after 52 moves. It was a draw on the second board, too, between Vidit Gujrathi and Laurent Fressinet, after 31 moves. With Arjun Erigaisi already drawing his game on the third board, the score is tied 1.5-1.5 in this match, the fate of which will be decided by the fourth-board clash between S.L. Narayanan and Maxime Lagarde.

5:52pm: In the women’s event, Dronavalli Harika and Ticia Gara played out a rather quick draw; the second-board encounter between India and Hungary lasted just 13 moves.

5:18pm: Arjun Erigaisi and Matthieu Cornette signed the peace treaty after just 24 moves in their Sicilian Defence game. The players had reached an equal position on the third board in this clash between the top two teams, India and France, in these the early days of the tournament.

In the match of India 2 against the giant-killer Italy, Raunak Sadhwani and Francesco Sonis played six more moves -- and reached a same-coloured bishop ending -- before they too decided to split the point in the fourth-board clash. The game lasted 30 moves.

Surya Shekhar Ganguly (India 3) drew his top-board game with the former World championship challenger Alexei Shirov of Spain in 37 moves; it was a rook-pawn ending.

Here’s the complete breakdown of Indian players in the fray today. You can track their progress here:

When a pre-match favourite’s sense of danger lets it down, like for Magnus Carlsen-led Norway or women from USA and Armenia in the 

After Italy stunned third seed Norway 3-1 with Lorenzo Lodici and Francesco Sonis upstaging Jon Ludvig Hammer and Johan Sebastian Christiansen on the lower boards and Daniel Vocaturu gallantly holding Carlsen, the Indians completed a hat-trick of victories in the Open section.

P. Harikrishna and Arjun Erigaisi scored contrasting victories against Greece,  R. Praggnanandhaa salvaged a very dangerous-looking position and eventually won on time against Switzerland’s Yannick Pelletier to complete the third straight 4-0 sweep for India 2. India 3 joined the act when S. P. Sethuraman and Abhijeet Gupta emerged victorious in its 3-1 triumph over Iceland.

Among the women, where Mongolia shocked seventh seed USA 3-1 after winning on the two lower boards and Estonia stumped ninth seed Armenia 2.5-1.5 with Mai Narva upstaging Elina Daneilian on the top board, India teams suffered a loss of a game while extending its winning run.

After mother-to-be D. Harika came in for K. Humpy and drew with England’s Jovanka Houska, Bhakti Kulkarni and R. Vaishali brought joy with fine victories.

Vantika Agrawal again guided India 2 in stopping Indonesia 3-1. Soumya Swaminathan, won to look the margin look commanding.

For India 3, against Austria, P. V. Nandhidhaa’s victory stood nullified when Varshini Sahithi lost a game she looked like winning. Thereafter, Pratyusha Bodda’s win made the difference.

The  Chess Olympiad is being held in India for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1927 with the honour coming to Chennai, considered the chess capital of the country. This is also the first time in 30 years that the Olympiad is coming to Asia.

If you’ve missed the Olympiad hype train, we have you covered. Here’s everything you need to know about the biggest event in the game in brief:

• ⦿ The event will see the highest number of countries participating in an Olympiad
• ⦿ Nearly 350 teams in the Open and women’s sections from 187 countries will be in fray. Of these, 188 teams are in the Open section and 162 in the women’s.
• ⦿ Previously, the Batumi Olympiad in 2018 had set the record with 184 and 150 teams in the Open and women’s sections, respectively, from 179 countries. 
• ⦿ India’s 30-member squad will be their biggest squad ever. 
• ⦿ Given Russia and China’s non-participation, India Team A is seeded second while the USA tops the ranking list.

Live streaming of the Chess Olympiad will be available on the official YouTube channel of FIDE Chess Olympiad. The event will be telecast live on the Doordarshan TV channel in India. You can follow the boards and all the analysis from matches on each day on Sportstar too.